Tag Archive: Clinton

We plugged in the television last night and sat back for an evening of politics and politico on CNN. As they announced Obama had clinched the nomination, the CNN panned to a video taken at a bar just down the street in our very excited city- where crowds of people cheered and celebrated the long-awaited end to a hotly contested primary. I think a lot of people felt both elation and a hint of sadness knowing one of our incredible candidates would not be nominated. And yet, Clinton gave little indication she was willing to concede despite the numbers. In fact, she acted as if she was this country’s last hope (to paraphrase).

That was a huge disappointment to me. I expected more from such a well-respected leader. I anticipated the same kind of speech given by Obama – one that accentuated the dedication of all this season’s candidates; a speech that might unify the party and the country. Instead, Clinton seemed unwilling to accept she did not win the nomination and rather than asking her supporters to stand with Obama, her words were often divisive.

I am proud of this country for throwing such enormous support behind both candidates regardless of race or gender. I’m thrilled to feel such excitement over a primary! What a feat for the Democratic party to not only have one remarkable candidate who beat the odds: We had two!

So regardless of what happens the rest of the week with the Clinton-Obama struggle, I’m proud today to be an American. And for the first time in my adult life, I believe the old wounds of this nation will be healed with the kind of unifying spirit Obama has brought to the ticket.

I’m 29 years old. I purchased my first gallon of gas for around $0.79 at age 16. Ten years later, I was paying $2.49/gallon. Today, a gallon of gasoline (regular unleaded) is $4.18 at the pump; a 430% increase over my first gallon.

Some get mad at the price. They point fingers at oil companies making record profits or at President Bush (the worst president ever) and his oil buddies or they blame the war. And they (we) should be angry, but what really angers me is the feeling that we’ll allow this rise in prices to continue unabated until our country bursts at the seams with inflation. The oil companies have a hand in everything we do from driving to work to taking a much-needed, well-deserved vacation. We had a choice in the 1970s when we saw the first dramatic spike in oil, but we sat idling in the great parking-lots of centers of energy and policy. And we have the same choice today, but for some reason, the technologies are slow-moving. Why are hybrids still too costly for the lower middle class? What does it mean when in America, the cost of driving to work, does not warrant the job itself? And today there’s more at stake than just the price of gas, we must consider also the cost of driving. What impact will current and future technologies have on our environment and well-being? So I’m not just frustrated with big oil, I’m frustrated with us. We’re not the only country in the world importing oil, but we a great country on the fragile brink of economic collapse because of a severe lack of foresight.

I’m asking now for those readers who do not normally comment, to consider posting ideas for free-energy, education, the economy, etc. We don’t need to fuel the argument; we need to power a solution.

Due to rain, the festivities were moved indoors. My middle child is a Clinton supporter and I wanted her to have an opportunity to see Hillary Clinton up close and since Clinton’s daughter accompanied her mother, I thought a mother-daughter night out to see a historic mother-daughter duo might be fun. We stood near the stage and listened as other senators endorsed the NY senator. We heard a country music star sing the National Anthem and then the lights dimmed and in walked the Clintons. I had to hold Ava up over the crowd so she could see them.

Half way through, we decided to find seats and that’s when Erick surprised me with the rest of our posse. He said he thought seeing Hillary Clinton speak might inspire our daughters to think big. I was proud of him for trekking out on his own for the sake of our girls because though we’re 4/5 Obama supporters, I was still proud to see Clinton standing up for America; promoting “green”-collared jobs, talking about renewable energy and in general taking a stand where so many have abandoned the post.

After the speech, we walked down to Rock Bottom, a great brewery in Uptown. There we experienced several fire-drills and some great food (though I was too excited to eat).

Afterward, we took the train to Bland Street for some Baklava at Greek Isles. And that concluded our busy evening.

And off-topic slightly: We were crossing Tryon the other night when suddenly a car came around the corner going too fast. With my entire family in harm’s way, I did what any mom would do and stuck my knee out to take the impact. Fortunately the car stopped before it struck my knee or family, but I had to laugh that I imagined I could stop that big car with my knee. And then it occurred to me that perhaps we mothers do have super-human strength and that had that car hit my knee, it would have hit a barrier of pure self-less parental dedication.

Voting in a free election should be a simple, easy-to-follow process; fair and unbiased. On Tuesday, some Michigan voters might feel the need to revisit junior high government class in order to understand the ballots. If you are voting for a democratic candidate and you’re not voting for Hillary Clinton, you’ll need to check the “unregistered delegate” box located on the ballot. Assuming there are enough unregistered delegates, this may impact the number of delegates Clinton receives for Michigan.

Why the confusion? Sen. Carl Levin (my favorite democratic senator), pushed Michigan’s primary date up to compete with Iowa and New Hampsire. Iowa threatened to drop democratic candidates and their ballots and so we lost all but Clinton, who refused to be bullied.

Since when does Iowa have that kind of control over a vote I want to make for my candidate in my state? And how is this a fair representation of votes in Michigan? Yeah, that’s rhetorical.